WASHINGTON, DC-That 13-asset portfolio Corporate Office Properties Trust sold off recently in Baltimore for $32.4 million? Expect to see even more such sales in 2012. The REIT, which has been recycling capital in its portfolio in part to fund its BRAC-related development pipeline, has just announced plans to expand the scope of this strategic plan. 

The trust has added an additional $312 million of assets to be sold within the next three years, bringing the size of its Strategic Reallocation Plan to $572 million. So far under the program, the REIT has completed the sale of $ $76.7 million of assets, for an aggregate 894,150 square feet. Much of these trades occurred in the fourth quarter—COPT only announced the plan in April 2011—with the sale of 15 properties for $52.2 million.

Those transactions include the 13-asset Rutherford Business Center in Woodlawn, MD, along with the sale of 11011 McCormick Rd. in the Hunt Valley/I-83 Corridor for $3.45 million. It also sold White Marsh Commerce Center for $16.25 million.

Beyond this update to its reallocation plan, COPT is playing its card close to the chest for investors. The REIT has postponed giving a guidance for 2012 until the year actually begins, as there are too many unknowns with the federal government right now, outgoing CEO Rand Griffin, said during the most recent earnings call. Still, he seemed sanguine about the cutbacks and the impact they will have on COPT’s portfolio.

The four major BRAC locations COPT is developing are knowledge base defense installations, not legacy weapon bases, he noted. “The government agencies at our locations are fulfilling missions in cyber security and other higher-tech areas that are critical to national security. So what we initially expect out of the super-committee process is a spike in tenant anxiety and uncertainty, then getting back to business in an environment that is not dissimilar to what has persisted for the last several years.”